Belvidere Amtrak station plans near completion

BELVIDERE — Construction of a Belvidere Amtrak station could begin before the end of 2014.

“I’m hoping to get started this year, but there are still a lot of steps to go through,” Belvidere Mayor Mike Chamberlain said.

The city will meet with engineers in the next two or three weeks to review technical aspects of the station’s design.

Stephen Ernst, executive director of the Rockford Metropolitan Agency for Planning, said that Boone County and Belvidere are “well along the way” toward finalizing construction plans.

The station and transit center would be built along existing train tracks north of City Hall between Main and State streets, according to a multi-phase downtown development proposal from 2005 posted on the City of Belvidere’s website.

Chamberlain said that the station could be completed toward the end of 2015.

According to the 2005 plan, once the station is complete, an initial phase of government, residential, commercial, retail and mixed-use development would be implemented over the next five years and would expand City Hall and the Boone County Historical Museum to create a “civic campus” around the station.

Chamberlain said the Amtrak station is the first step in connecting Belvidere to Chicago and Rockford through a commuter rail that he hopes will drive downtown development.

Ernst said that the line will begin transporting passengers in 2015 on a single train with plans to add a second train in 2016.

In four or five years, Chamberlain hopes enough trains will be added to allow residents to live in Belvidere and commute to work in Chicago or Rockford, or vice versa.

Chamberlain also said a plan is being discussed to develop a shuttle system with busses that would take Rockford commuters who don’t want to use a proposed west Rockford train station to the Belvidere one.

“I think they’ll come here instead of going to the west side of Rockford,” Chamberlain said.

Ben Stanley: 815-987-1369; bstanley@rrstar.com; @Ben_J_Stanley

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